My father died unexpectedly in early May, and I've only just returned home from eastern Canada after three long weeks of arranging his funeral and then looking after his personal effects.

One of the few bright spots in the past month was knowing that I had a chawan of Cory's waiting for me back home in the post. So this is a very belated thank-you to Cory for sending this beautiful teabowl as a gift - most especially appreciated during this sad time.

The following photos do not do adequate justice to Cory's work, but I'm keen to share what I've received, so let's start with...

View #1: the "front".

I regard this as the shomen (front side) because of the "slash" in the glaze. Traditionally, when the bowl doesn't have an obvious design on it, the host chooses a naturally occurring variation in the glaze with which to designate the front. The slash reminds me of the ichimonji or Japanese symbol for "one" (one world, one way of being, one mind, etc.). I'm truly not sure whether this element was intentional - but either way, it's perfect! And the bowl itself has a truly exquisite shape.

View #2: the "back". This photo really shows the high gloss of the bowl's glaze.